"Pavilion Master?"
Zhao Wuji's heart went cold: "What is the meaning of this? Raising the price on the spot?"
"In our deal... it was agreed upon!"
"You were to keep my Zhao family safe!"
Hearing this, the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng finally deigned to lift his eyelids, giving him a faint glance.
"Patriarch Zhao, you can eat whatever you want, but you cannot just say whatever you please."
He spoke slowly and methodically: "The terms of our deal were made crystal clear."
"I am only responsible for witnessing."
"Responsible for preventing this Immortal Venerable's inheritance from falling into the hands of others."
The Pavilion Master extended a finger, pointing at the curved blade in Zhao Wuji's hand.
"Right now, that thing is in your hands, and it hasn't been snatched away by anyone else."
"My task has been completed perfectly."
"As for everything else..."
The Pavilion Master looked utterly helpless: "That is your own business. Or perhaps this magical artifact finds you pleasing to the eye and wants to get intimately close to you."
"This falls under force majeure and is not within the scope of my assistance."
"That requires an additional price."
"You..."
Zhao Wuji was so infuriated by these shameless remarks that he nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Intimately close?
Was it trying to get intimately close to him all the way to the grave?!
"I'll pay more!"
Zhao Wuji was a ruthless man himself; seeing that playing the emotion card was useless, he immediately changed his approach.
Gritting his teeth, veins bulged on his forehead as cold sweat mixed with dust flowed down, washing out several muddy trails on his face.
"Pavilion Master! As long as you take action and help me get this damned thing off!"
"My Zhao family... will offer double the resources!"
"No! Triple!"
"As long as I can survive, I am willing to give you half of the items in this Immortal Venerable's inheritance!"
Zhao Wuji practically roared it out.
What inheritance, what future, you had to be alive to claim them.
Although he didn't know what else was inside.
Just this Crescent Moon blade alone was a massive harvest.
Even though it was wicked, as long as he could bring it back, even if he had to fill it with human lives, using the blood of the Zhao family's collateral disciples to feed it, he could eventually satiate it.
As long as they mastered this immortal weapon, the Zhao family could still turn their fortunes around!
For this, he was willing to sacrifice half of the other benefits.
This was already cutting off his own flesh to feed a tiger.
Su Ji, who was standing to the side watching the show, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he heard this.
This Zhao Wuji was indeed an ambitious and ruthless figure who knew when to cut his losses.
It was just a pity...
He misjudged his man.
After hearing this tempting offer, the expression on the face of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng did not change in the slightest.
He even sighed softly.
It was the helplessness of looking at a fool.
"Patriarch Zhao..."
The Pavilion Master shook his head, his tone carrying a bit of pity: "Have you still not grasped the situation?"
"Pay more?"
"Discuss dividing the spoils with me?"
He took a step forward, and for the first time, undisguised mockery appeared in his bright eyes.
"Right now, you are like a wild boar that has fallen into a trap, covered in blood and unable to move."
"And I am a passing hunter."
"You are telling me that as long as I pull you up, you will give me one of your legs to eat."
The Pavilion Master sneered, the laughter echoing in the empty abyss, sounding exceptionally harsh.
"Do you think the hunter would agree?"
Zhao Wuji froze.
Even with the piercing pain, his mind went blank for a moment.
"The hunter would not agree."
The Pavilion Master answered his own question, his voice soft: "Because the hunter only needs to stand by the pit and wait for you to bleed dry and die completely."
"Then everything will be mine."
The dagger was finally revealed.
This was the True Immortal's truest calculation in his heart.
That master-devouring immortal weapon had already bitten firmly into Zhao Wuji.
Why would he waste effort to save a doomed man?
Moreover, an Immortal Venerable's natal artifact...
Above True Immortal was Immortal King, and above Immortal King was Immortal Venerable.
That was an existence two major realms higher than him; if he wasn't careful, he might drag himself into it too.
"You... you..."
Zhao Wuji's eyes widened.
"You are... double-crossing me!"
"Aren't you afraid... afraid that if this gets out, it will ruin the reputation of your Tingfeng Pavilion?!"
"Reputation?"
The Pavilion Master adjusted his slightly soiled cuffs and spoke methodically.
"Patriarch Zhao, you are wrong again."
"First, I am not double-crossing you."
"I am merely standing on the sidelines, watching as you, driven by greed, insisted on forcibly subduing an immortal weapon, resulting in a backlash and your unfortunate demise."
"I even feel deep self-blame and regret for being unable to save you."
As the Pavilion Master spoke, he actually put on a timely expression of being deeply pained.
"Second."
"Where are we?"
"An Immortal Venerable's tomb."
"Aside from the few of us..."
"You will be dead."
"Who is going to spread what happened here?"
"When the time comes, I just need to announce to the public that Patriarch Zhao, for the safety of the Canghuang Realm, ventured deep into the Great Wasteland, bravely fought demonic cultivators, and ultimately perished together with a demon lord in a heroic sacrifice."
"My Tingfeng Pavilion will even erect a monument and write a biography for you, singing praises of your merits."
"Is this not a perfect ending?"
This was truly destroying a man's heart before killing him.
Zhao Wuji only felt a tightness in his chest, a metallic sweetness welling up in his throat.
"Pfft!"
A mouthful of black blood spurted right out.
He was literally angered to the point of vomiting blood.
"I... I was blind!"
Zhao Wuji roared, his voice hoarse like a vengeful spirit: "It was because I trusted the golden signboard of Tingfeng Pavilion that I exhausted my family's wealth to find you..."
"I never expected... I never expected that you are the true man-eating demon who doesn't even spit out the bones!"
"Wealth moves the hearts of men... Facing an Immortal Venerable's inheritance, even the lofty Pavilion Master of Tingfeng cannot avoid being vulgar?!"
Faced with Zhao Wuji's blood-weeping accusations, the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng actually looked somewhat wronged.
He wore a look of incomprehension.
"Patriarch Zhao, why speak so harshly?"
"What do you mean I harmed you?"
"What do you mean I'm double-crossing you?"
"I haven't done anything."
The Pavilion Master spread his hands, looking completely innocent.
"I neither stabbed you in the back nor tampered with your magical artifact."
"You were the one who insisted on taking that blade."
"It is also your own cultivation base that is lacking, unable to keep things under control."
"From beginning to end, I have merely been a quiet bystander, a witness who strictly abides by professional ethics."
"I certainly haven't violated any terms of our deal."
"Please do not sling mud at me."
"It damages my reputation."
"Whether my Tingfeng Pavilion is wicked or not, I don't know, but you are genuinely stupid."
Even Su Ji, who was standing on the sidelines watching the show, couldn't help but mentally give this Pavilion Master a thumbs up.
This was a true scheming mastermind.
He had turned the word inaction into an absolute art form.
If he were back in Su Ji's hometown, he would at the very least be a top-level executive.
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
